MLB News

The latest Cruz free-agent rumors

October 10, 2018

Although he is approaching his 40s and spends most of his time at designated hitter these days, Nelson Cruz is still one of the top sluggers in the game and should draw plenty of interest on the free-agent market this offseason.Below you will find a list of the latest news

Although he is approaching his 40s and spends most of his time at designated hitter these days, Nelson Cruz is still one of the top sluggers in the game and should draw plenty of interest on the free-agent market this offseason.Below you will find a list of the latest news and rumors surrounding the veteran.Sources: Cruz has deal with TwinsDec. 27: The Twins are the winner of the Cruz sweepstakes.Sources confirmed to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand and Jon Paul Morosi on Thursday that the Twins have agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract with 38-year-old slugger Nelson Cruz, who will give Minnesota a needed upgrade at the designated hitter position. The deal reportedly includes a $12 million club option for 2020 with a $300,000 buyout.The Twins were looking to add an experienced hitter to lengthen their lineup this offseason, and DH appeared to be an area of particular need. Minnesota only got 15 homers and a .682 OPS out of its DH spot last season, both second-worst in the AL, ahead of only the Tigers.Cruz's acquisition should, at the very least, give some stability to the position after the Twins gave three players -- Logan Morrison, Robbie Grossman and Joe Mauer -- at least 30 starts at DH in 2018.The Twins beat out both the Astros and Rays for Cruz's services. Cruz would have been an excellent fit with either of those clubs, too, but with Cruz headed to Minnesota they'll have to look elsewhere for their power bat.

#Astros plan was to team Cruz with Michael Brantley and make their deep offense deeper. #Rays were willing to do a second splurge (for their market) after Charlie Morton. But #Twins won out on Cruz.

Both Houston and Tampa Bay had made "competitive offers" for the veteran slugger, MLB Network insider Jon Heyman noted Thursday. More >Could Cruz boost Twins' lineup? Dec. 22: Cruz and his powerful bat remain available on the free-agent market, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Jim Souhan sees the slugger making a big positive impact on the Twins' lineup were he to sign with Minnesota.

Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey told Souhan that adding a veteran hitter who can bring more professional at-bats could send a ripple effect through the rest of the Twins' lineup, which had a tendency to chase pitches outside the zone last season.

"It's a trade-off," Falvey said of giving designated hitter at-bats to a veteran instead of a younger Twin like Tyler Austin or C.J. Cron. "There's some long-term benefit of seeing some young players play and developing them, and there are times when you feel like you have good fits in terms of your club -- a really good bat, an established bat, one that takes pressure off other guys in the lineup.

"How could this player affect the players in the lineup next to him two years down the line? That could be real. And so I've seen that before and sometimes getting on base is infectious. You see a player extend at-bats and take a pitcher deep in his pitch count, and that's really valuable for a lineup."

Souhan infers that Falvey might be talking about Cruz when speaking about that "established bat." Cruz is also a native of the Dominican Republic, and so Souhan wonders if he could be an important mentor to 25-year-old Dominican slugger Miguel Sanó, who took a huge step backwards in 2018 due to a mix of off-the-field troubles and inconsistency on the diamond. Will Astros still target Cruz?Dec. 17: With reports that Houston is nearing a two-year deal with Michael Brantley, what does that mean for its possible pursuit of Nelson Cruz?The prevailing thought with regard to Cruz is that his market is limited by two very key factors. One, he's pretty much a full-time designated hitter at this stage of his career, so it's almost a certainty that only American League teams would be in play. And two, he's 38, so it's more likely that contending clubs would be interested, since he could fit their window to win now.The first reason above is why just about every Cruz-related rumor so far has linked him to teams like the Rangers, White Sox, Twins, Rays and Astros. The second reason above is why the Rays and Astros -- two teams certainly ready to contend right away in 2019 -- might make the most sense of all.If the Brantley deal is completed, he is likely to see time in left field, first base and DH for the Astros, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. That doesn't necessarily block Houston from going after Cruz. And indeed, USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reports the Astros are still pursuing Cruz even after the Brantley agreement.Tyler White still looks like the Astros' leading candidate to DH. While he had an impressive late-2018 showing (.879 OPS across August and September), Cruz's power -- he has averaged over 40 homers with a 145 OPS+ the past five seasons -- would provide an upgrade to a lineup that was still good last year but took a step back after a historic '17.Beyond that, Brantley and Cruz offer completely different offensive skill sets, with the former being a contact-oriented gap-to-gap hitter and the latter being a pure slugger. MLB.com's David Adler covered just this topic, writing: "As great as the Astros have been, two of the things their offense could use most are a prototypical masher and a reliably productive designated hitter. Or, to put it another way, one of the things the Astros' offense could most use is Cruz."In both 2017 and '18, the DH spot was not Houston's strength. Carlos Beltran was the team's primary DH in '17, and he posted a 77 Weighted Runs Created Plus in that role -- 100 is MLB-average production, so Beltran was 23 percent below average as a DH. This past season, Evan Gattishad the most at-bats at DH, and he had a 99 wRC+. For '19, the Astros' best current option looks like Tyler White, who was excellent in limited DH games in August and September. But White is no Cruz."Cruz's wRC+ in 144 games as a DH in 2018 was 134. In 155 games at DH in '17, it was 147. Combined over the two seasons, Cruz posted a 141 wRC+ at the DH position."

Houston eyeing Brantley, CruzDec. 15: The rotation arguably remains the Astros' biggest area of need, but the club is reportedly looking into offensive upgrades as well. According to MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal in an article for The Athletic (subscription required), Houston is talking to free agents Michael Brantley and Nelson Cruz and may try to sign both of them.Houston is open to trading Josh Reddick, but Rosenthal reports that the club "developed little traction" when trying to move him earlier this offseason. Reddick, who is owed $13 million in each of the next two seasons, posted a .718 OPS in 2018. A Reddick trade would allow the team to fit both Brantley and top prospect Kyle Tucker (No. 5 overall, per MLB Pipeline), though Rosenthal notes that the concern of blocking Tucker won't necessarily prevent Houston from signing Brantley or even offering the 31-year-old a three-year deal.As for Cruz, Rosenthal writes that "the Astros likely envision [the 38-year-old] as the kind of veteran stabilizer Carlos Beltran was during their run to the 2017 World Series title." Houston has an obvious opening at designated hitter, with Evan Gattis joining Cruz and Brantley on the free-agent market.Are Rays out on Cruz?Dec. 13: The Rays have been mentioned repeatedly in recent days as one of the teams after free-agent slugger Nelson Cruz for his right-handed power bat. Is that still the case?Tampa Bay acquired Yandy Díaz from the Indians as part of a three-team deal also involving the Mariners that was completed Thursday afternoon and sent first baseman Carlos Santana to Cleveland and Edwin Encarnacion to Seattle. That could impact the Rays' pursuit of Cruz.Despite underwhelming slugging numbers in his brief MLB career, Diaz -- unlike Jake Bauers, who the Rays also traded to the Indians in the deal -- is a righty hitter and offers defensive versatility at both corner infield positions."The key to this for us is how we feel about Yandy Diaz," Rays senior VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said. "He's a guy we've been on for a while. We really like his bat. He hasn't gotten an opportunity to show it regularly at the Major League level, just being blocked by some of the players the Indians have had. But we think there's a lot of upside there. He hits the ball to all fields, hits the ball really, really hard and has the chance to drive the ball more as he continues to mature as a hitter. ... And the fact that he's a right-handed hitter is a really good fit for our roster."Indeed, the 27-year-old also has shown a knack for making hard contact in his young big league career, suggesting perhaps that he could be a late-blooming power hitter once given regular playing time, which escaped him in Cleveland. To wit, Diaz's average exit velocity of 92.1 mph last season was the 25th highest of all players with at least 50 batted balls in 2018.If this trade does, in fact, take the Rays out of the running for Cruz, the veteran slugger's most likely destinations would appear to be the Twins, White Sox and possibly the Astros.

The Rays and Twins, who have emerged as two of the chief suitors for Cruz in recent days, still are both involved in the talks, per Morosi. So is at least one other mystery team. Which team could that be? Besides Tampa Bay and Minnesota, other clubs that likely would be in on Cruz include the Astros and White Sox.The Rays' reported two-year, $30 million contract with righty Charlie Morton shouldn't preclude the club from staying in the hunt for Cruz, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, who says the veteran slugger "fits the Rays perfectly."

One free agent to keep an eye on: Nelson Cruz, who fits the Rays perfectly. With a lefty-heavy lineup (Kiermaier, Meadows, Wendle, Bauers) and need for power, Rays see Cruz fitting with a short-term, high-impact deal. Cruz's history of production is leading him to seek two years.

The small-market club still has some financial resources to play with this offseason, and another short-term deal -- like the one for Morton -- makes sense for Cruz, too, especially at this stage of his career and given his limited market as a full-time designated hitter. Are Twins, Rays the front-runners for Cruz?Dec. 11: Given Nelson Cruz's role as a full-time designated hitter at this stage of the 38-year-old's career, it's not surprising that the teams most linked to the slugger are in the American League. In recent days, the Rays, Twins, Astros and White Sox have emerged as the four likeliest landing spots, but is there a chance that batch of clubs has been whittled down even more?Cruz's agent, Bryce Dixon, tells MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi that there still are ongoing discussions with teams beyond the Twins and Rays.

It's hard to tell, then, whether there has been any real development here. One thing does seem pretty clear, though: The number of clubs in the mix for Cruz likely can be counted on one hand.These are the four primary suitors for CruzDec. 10: Although Nelson Cruz became a free agent more than a month ago, his market doesn't seem to have changed all that much. According to MLB Network insider Jon Heyman, the Rays, Astros and Twins are in on the slugger, and the White Sox possibly could be as well.

#MNTwins are a new team in the mix for Nelson Cruz. The Goldy trade may have helped clarify things. Astros, Rays also in. White Sox possibly.

All along, those clubs have been viewed as four of the likelier suitors for the slugger, whose role as a full-time designated hitter limits the number of teams that could realistically sign him. The list became even smaller when his former team, the Mariners, opted to rebuild.Of those suitors, the Rays have been linked to Cruz more than any other team, as the club has an opening at DH after waiving C.J. Cron(who was claimed by the Twins), seeks a right-handed slugger and can fit Cruz into its modest budget. The club has maintained a "running dialogue" with Cruz, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

It's uncertain how aggressive Minnesota will be when it comes to Cruz, as La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the club prefers to rotate multiple players at the DH spot in 2019. Neal noted that the Twins could still pull off a surprise by signing the 38-year-old, but only if the price is right. To that end, MLB.com's Do-Hyoung Park reports there is "mutual interest" between the Twins and Cruz, who could provide a different look for an offense that hit 166 home runs (fourth fewest in the AL) in 2018.

According to source, there is indeed “mutual interest” between #MNTwins and Cruz, with DHs seeing MN as an attractive destination. Thad Levine said yesterday that Twins are comfortable with in-house options but see DH as possible way to improve/diversify lineup. https://t.co/I58mjb7myO

The Astros and the White Sox, meanwhile, also have an opening at DH, but the latter may view Cruz only as a fallback option if it can't land a bigger-name free agent.Bowden: Rays should sign CruzDec. 5: The Rays have been linked to free agent Nelson Cruz throughout the offseason as a club with money to spend, and former MLB general manager Jim Bowden writes Cruz could be a perfect fit in Tampa Bay in a column for The Athletic (subscription required). Bowden included Cruz to the Rays in a column listing the transactions he'd like to see completed by the end of Winter Meetings next week, suggesting a one- or two-year deal at $15 million per season for the 38-year-old slugger.Cruz may be limited to American League clubs looking for a designated hitter, so the Rays may not have much competition to acquire him with only the Rangers, Twins and Astros among possible destinations.Cruz's veteran presence could benefit a developing Rays team, Bowden says, and he fits their need for a middle-of-the-order bat as he's hit 37 or more home runs for five consecutive seasons.